Incredible Craigslist find!

[Turbo-Torch]

This is part of what is left of a collection owned by an 85 year old guy who started to collect when he retired at 61. He's in very poor health and gave his son and daughter permission to get rid of his collection.

The son said the house was filled from floor to ceiling with vintage computer equipment with just paths to get around. The cringe part is, he took most to a recycler and then rented a dumpster for the rest.

I really wanted full height Tandon disk drives and there was only one left...said he took 70 or 80 of them to the recycler! He also mentioned a whole bunch of BLUE Model III computers that were from a school.

 

The guy really liked TRS-80 equipment. Someone else got there before me and took the stack of external hard drives with keys and a Model II...would have loved to have those but I'm still not complaining.

 

This was all I could fit in my SUV and there are still hundreds of those brown leather like Radio Shack software binders, books, magazines and miscellaneous items. If it wasn't a six hour round trip, I'd head back.

 

 

I'm estimating I now have close to 1,000 5¼" floppies; tons of TRS-80 original software along with box after box of brand new sealed disks.

 

 

I grabbed a few stacks of 80 micro and Tandy specific magazines, leaving hundreds behind.

 

There are 5 TRS-80 Model 100 portables. Three look like new.

One yellowed by fully working Tandy 200.

A Sharp Pocket PC with printer add on plus two more spare printer add ons.

Two Tandy Notebooks, at 3800 and 3950...never even knew they existed.

Brand new Plug 'n Power remote system.

 

 

A set of 8" Floppy drives. The left one was new in the anti-static bag. I hope I can get these to work as external drives on my Model III. There are also about 100 8" floppies, many brand new.

Also have a Tandy version of the Bernoulli Box with dual drives and I'm wondering if I could pull those and use that housing with these 8" drives. Countless Bernoulli cartridges which I think are worthless.

 

Those drives are sitting on one of two IBM P70s.

 

 

 

Both the IBMs work great and the displays are really slick. The picture here looks terrible, but they are razor sharp vivid red. At first I thought they were LCD but seemed way better than any LCD I've ever seen. Apparently they are red PLASMA displays!

I think I left 3 more of those systems behind.

 

 

And check this out, a BRAND NEW Cromeco joystick. I need to do some more research on this one.

 

I'm going to be sorting through this stuff for weeks, deciding what to keep, trade/sell, give away or trash.

 

Oh yeah...it was all free.

 

 

[Retro-Z]

Great find!!! It almost as fun to dig through the stuff back at home and see exactly what all is there.

 

It's too bad they basically trashed much of their stuff. I've never fully understood why, with the entire internet at their fingertips, people don't look up stuff before throwing things into a dumpster...

[Keatah]

It's too bad they basically trashed much of their stuff. I've never fully understood why, with the entire internet at their fingertips, people don't look up stuff before throwing things into a dumpster...

 

They don't because it's time consuming and they believe they'll need to know a lot about the item in question. A lot of tech info in the case of this type of material. And of course lack of interest.

 

It's easy to understand. A lot of this stuff is junk, fodder, crap-in-the-way, just "stuff" to people that are not into it. I did the same thing, with the same attitude, when I purged all my non-Apple material. I couldn't wait till it was gone. The wife couldn't wait till it was gone. We had other bigger plans in mind.

 

Freeing up the garages in one fell swoop was more practical than putting price stickers on everything and parting it out. We just wanted it gone. First came the dumpster and some giveaways. A few select "I suspect it's worth a lot" high-dollar items went to ebay. But the bulk of it, the individual computers, printers, drives, add-on cards, monitors, consoles, manuals, and all that, all that, was given minimal attention and disposed of as expeditiously as possible.

 

Sounds tragic, but it is the way of the world.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Probably its a good idea to document your collection. That should make it easier for your relatives to value the stuff you collected and prevents that collectibles are dumped.

 

IMO, whoever collects rare things is bound to take care for the future of this collection.

[Turbo-Torch]

Great find!!! It almost as fun to dig through the stuff back at home and see exactly what all is there.

 

It's too bad they basically trashed much of their stuff. I've never fully understood why, with the entire internet at their fingertips, people don't look up stuff before throwing things into a dumpster...

 

I have a feeling there was so much stuff, the guy and his sister felt defeated. They both chose to temporarily move back home from other parts of the country to take care of their father in his final days. No nice way of putting it, but he described a hoarder house. Just paths to move around, one bedroom packed so tight you couldn't enter, basement filled and attic filled. I guess if you're going to hoard something, cool valuable stuff is the way to do it. He most definitely was NOT the newspaper, plastic grocery bags and dead cats kind of collector.

Everything was also well kept; he didn't buy junk or let the stuff turn to junk. The items they tried to sell during garage sales were put back in the garage and a little dusty but that's it, no smells or mold. All disks are either in plastic file boxes or sealed in bags...so far I've found no mold on the media surfaces which is amazing. I tried out quite a few titles in my Model III last night and so far not a single dud.

 

Now on the other hand, if they had time to sort through everything and sell on ebay, good chance they'd have ended up with enough profit to buy a brand new house and a couple of cars. The son didn't feel the complete 80s systems were worth anything, so something tells me a lot of 70s IMSAI systems/parts and vintage Apple stuff no longer exists. Cromemco items don't go cheap...I see a pair of those joysticks and circuit boards sold for over $2,000 on ebay a few weeks ago. I also found a Cromemco computer power supply last night, so a lot of that equipment may have been discarded too. Oddly, there's still a stash of 90s + equipment that I believe he wants to sell.

 

He mentioned a place he sent over 600 lbs of circuit boards to and they paid for shipping and sent back a check for $700. 600 lbs!

 

The guy also collected HAM radio equipment and vintage test equipment. The son said the HAM gear sold instantly while no one wanted anything to do with the computer items. That may have given him the idea that vintage computers are worthless.

The vintage test equipment he has left is amazing. The stuff in hand crafted wooden boxes belongs in a museum.

 

I actually felt guilty loading up the little bit that was left and yet the son seemed grateful that I was taking it. I had to convince him to take a bit of cash to at least buy him and his dad a nice dinner.

[AtariLeaf]

Great haul, just amazing. I'm guessing there was nothing for the Tandy Color Computer in all that TRS-80 stuff? As a coco fanatic I'd hate to think that if there was any, it saw the dumpster.

[Retro-Z]

 

They don't because it's time consuming and they believe they'll need to know a lot about the item in question. A lot of tech info in the case of this type of material. And of course lack of interest.

 

It's easy to understand. A lot of this stuff is junk, fodder, crap-in-the-way, just "stuff" to people that are not into it. I did the same thing, with the same attitude, when I purged all my non-Apple material. I couldn't wait till it was gone. The wife couldn't wait till it was gone. We had other bigger plans in mind.

 

Freeing up the garages in one fell swoop was more practical than putting price stickers on everything and parting it out. We just wanted it gone. First came the dumpster and some giveaways. A few select "I suspect it's worth a lot" high-dollar items went to ebay. But the bulk of it, the individual computers, printers, drives, add-on cards, monitors, consoles, manuals, and all that, all that, was given minimal attention and disposed of as expeditiously as possible.

 

Sounds tragic, but it is the way of the world.

 

Maybe I didn't explain my thoughts properly. I know of the reasons WHY people may do something like this (and I fully understand many of them). I'm more than willing to throw stuff in the trash if I don't feel it's worth investing the time to sell it, or if I just need it gone for other plans. What I don't understand is throwing stuff out and THEN having a sale. Why discard your inventory before giving a possible buyer the chance to purchase AND move it for you? It may take a bit more work than a few garage sales and Craigslist ads to get vintage computers gone (in my experience, old computers do NOT sell well locally). One quick "heads up" post by these sellers on a vintage computer forum would have likely been well received.

 

The market for vintage computers is EXTREMELY small, and HAM radio guys like HAM radio stuff, NOT vintage computers. I'm guessing the HAM radio stuff was priced extremely well. That kind of stuff doesn't "sell instantly" unless it was a heck of a deal. Nonetheless, there IS a market for vintage computers, and many people in that market are willing to spend some serious cash. A tested and working full-height Tandon 5.25" floppy drive gets about $50 each these days. If even half of the "70 or 80" were functional, that's nearly $2000 that got thrown out. That is just one example from this collection.

 

It would also have been interesting to see what was in the 600lb. of "circuitboards". There is a very good chance there were some treasures in there.

 

Still, maybe the liquidators of this collection had their reasons for doing it this way (such as needing to clear out the house so it could be sold, or needing to get back home), and again, that's their right. It's also hard to get the highest market price for things (especially vintage computer stuff) in a short amount of time. Hopefully, they are happy with what they've sold, it has allowed them to improve their finances, and that they are able to make their father comfortable in his final days.

 

To the OP, if there was some stuff you really liked, you might just go ahead and go back. A 6-hour round trip isn't so bad for a casual weekend drive, and this stuff doesn't pop up all the time these days. Where I'm at, a 3-hour drive really isn't that far. LOL.

Edited October 30, 2016 by Retro-Z

[simbalion]

That is a great haul there. It is a shame they tossed out so much, but that is typically American in many ways. There are honest reasons for doing that, but I agree tossing stuff out THEN deciding to sell it is not a good way to go. It really does amaze me in these days of the smartphone with information at your fingertips that people don't pause those few moments to look up what they have. Of course, if the kids lived far away, that does complicate things. I've also seen the 'tossing things away' bit as a way of coping with loss. My late friend's dad was tossing a lot of stuff left and right, instead of trying to do an auction of the antique radio items and such. What was happening was he was trying to cope and just got tunnel visioned on trying to clean the property up. I finally had to go one on one with him and get him stopped before everything ended up in the dumpster. It didn't help that one of the guys helping clean was burnt out on collecting and basically termed it all as worthless, tossing a lot of the stuff as well. I finally got things turned around and some nice items came my way, but it was a situation where we all needed to step back for a short bit before diving in.

In any case, I usually try to warn people that, if they can, to take a step back and try and research what they have inherited. Even if money isn't the object, it's actually good form to try and offer what might be collectible to someone before shoveling it into a dumpster. I find just tossing stuff into the trash (unless it is truly trash) to be an insult to the collector's memory. That's how I felt about my friend's place. I wanted to treat it with respect, not just go tossing or burning everything. A person spends his or her life collecting what they like and are passionate about, we should respect that when they pass on.

[Keatah]

 

Maybe I didn't explain my thoughts properly. I know of the reasons WHY people may do something like this (and I fully understand many of them). I'm more than willing to throw stuff in the trash if I don't feel it's worth investing the time to sell it, or if I just need it gone for other plans. What I don't understand is throwing stuff out and THEN having a sale. Why discard your inventory before giving a possible buyer the chance to purchase AND move it for you? It may take a bit more work than a few garage sales and Craigslist ads to get vintage computers gone (in my experience, old computers do NOT sell well locally). One quick "heads up" post by these sellers on a vintage computer forum would have likely been well received.

 

[..]

 

To the OP, if there was some stuff you really liked, you might just go ahead and go back. A 6-hour round trip isn't so bad for a casual weekend drive, and this stuff doesn't pop up all the time these days. Where I'm at, a 3-hour drive really isn't that far. LOL.

 

The only logical reasons I can think of is they had second thoughts that some of it may have real world value. Maybe it took time to sink in. But time to do whatever it is they're doing is generally the #1 reason to offload things instantly by whatever method gets it done.

 

What surprised me was how little was packed into the SUV. Unless it's one of those sporty types or crossover jobbers. Alternatively a trailer could have been rented to temporarily increase hauling capacity. Things could have been strapped to the roof..

[Turbo-Torch]

Great haul, just amazing. I'm guessing there was nothing for the Tandy Color Computer in all that TRS-80 stuff? As a coco fanatic I'd hate to think that if there was any, it saw the dumpster.

 

Oddly no...off hand I don't even see any coco software. Sounded like he got rid of countless I, II, III, 4, 4P, 12, 16 and 6000 systems, and from the software and amount of 8" drives, I believe him. There was just a Model I monitor left at this point. No 1000 series stuff either.

 

A few things for the Commodore though. A CPM cartridge, a memory cartridge in a box with something written on it about being modified, a 128 SuperChip (IC with a switch on it), few power supplies and some software.

[simbalion]

Ugh... I would have killed for a model II. That's one reason why I own an Astro Van. Can pack plenty into it! Heck, with the prices people are asking for TRS-80's around here, they could have made a killing by dumping all those onto the market. I am like Keatah, they started dumping stuff and realized all too late that it might have had some value. Of course, with the recyclers constanting preaching out there, it's getting hard to get the younger generation to not automatically send stuff to them.

[Turbo-Torch]

That is a great haul there. It is a shame they tossed out so much, but that is typically American in many ways. There are honest reasons for doing that, but I agree tossing stuff out THEN deciding to sell it is not a good way to go.

 

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that one but I'm sure there are various reasons why it got to this point.

I realize there are many people who don't use the internet but he did post the Craigslist ad with pictures. He did NOT appear to be super techie on any of the equipment and it sounded as if he'd been trying to get rid of many items all summer through garage sales. If you have a bunch of one thing or something looks interesting, it takes only minutes to look up completed ebay auctions.

 

Possible he was so overwhelmed trying to make space for him and his sister to move in, he just needed it gone.

 

I also have a feeling that his father may be deciding what to let go of a little at a time and it was obvious the kids cared a lot about him and keeping him happy. There was a shelf with a bunch of 8" floppy drives but he said his father still wanted to go through those...he still let me take a new one and one nice used one.

At this point, he may be burned out to the point of not wanting to haul things to a recycler or dump and it was a win/win situation having me take some of it away. I don't think it was about money as he didn't want a dime for any of the items I picked up. I'd assume his dad is fairly well off, said he was an aerospace engineer.

I'd have liked to gone up to meet the guy, but the son didn't offer and he may not have been up for visitors.

[Turbo-Torch]

What surprised me was how little was packed into the SUV. Unless it's one of those sporty types or crossover jobbers. Alternatively a trailer could have been rented to temporarily increase hauling capacity. Things could have been strapped to the roof..

 

Actually a mid size Porsche Cayenne with an interior that I'm not willing to destroy or end up dead from flying equipment piled to the roof during an accident.

 

Passenger floor, passenger seat and everything back to the hatch filled.

 

What's left are hundreds of the Radio Shack software binders which I think are cool but would simply take up space (I do have all the original software disks). A brand new sealed in the box Bernoulli drive system (maybe I should have made room for that). Several smaller used Bernoulli style systems. A Model I monitor. A Tandy Data terminal (NOT the Model III looking one).

One Commodore printer and one huge Oki printer, neither of which I want. Hundreds of new printer type face wheels for the old Tandy line printers. Boxes of various cables. 2 or 3 more IBM P70 computers...those were way cooler than I thought they'd be with the red plasma displays and may be worth picking up. Probably good for msdos gaming too with an external monitor hooked up.

 

Other items like the 8" drives are not available as his dad still wants to go through them.

 

[Turbo-Torch]

Ugh... I would have killed for a model II. That's one reason why I own an Astro Van. Can pack plenty into it! Heck, with the prices people are asking for TRS-80's around here, they could have made a killing by dumping all those onto the market. I am like Keatah, they started dumping stuff and realized all too late that it might have had some value. Of course, with the recyclers constanting preaching out there, it's getting hard to get the younger generation to not automatically send stuff to them.

 

There was a Model II in the initial CL ad earlier in the week but I couldn't get out there till this weekend and some guy picked it up along with a stack of hard drives. I REALLY wanted at least one of those drives.

 

I do a TRS 80 search on CL everyday and if something turns up for a reasonable price, it's gone within hours. This is in the Chicago area so I'm sure there is no shortage of people looking. About 2 months ago I was fortunate to score a mint 48K 2 drive Model III for $25. I went to meet the guy at a pickup point assuming it was going to be a good parts machine for the one I've owned since new. When I pulled the RS vinyl dust cover off, it looked like brand new and still had the untouched warranty sticker. The guy said it belonged to his late father-in-law.

Drive 0 didn't work and I have a feeling it may have never worked from day one and someone just put it on the side. Put the drive on my scope and realigned it, also went through the keyboard and it's now 100% functional and my museum piece. It was like a time capsule without a speck of dust inside it.

Added bonus, he also brought an equally nice DMP-100 in Battleship gray with RS dust cover and sealed box of fanfold paper. I'm not into printers, but I did attach it to my original Model III in my office and I really like it. Reinked the ribbon with one of those roll-on deodorant looking things for ink pads and it prints really nice. Far better than the disappointing DMP-110 I bought new back in the day.

 

Few weeks ago I also picked up two Model 100s. One looks and works like new and the other also looks new but the LCD zebra strips are shot. The lady wanted $5.00 for the set including cases and books. I actually ignored the ad for months thinking it was a scam and apparently so did everyone else. When I met her, she wouldn't take any money for them. They were her late father's and she was so happy they were going to someone who knew what they were. I even emailed her pictures of one hooked up to a BBS. And another added bonus, she also gave me a 1982 Panasonic clock radio that flips into a B&W TV set like a Transformer. Coolest thing ever and I have it hooked to a DTV converter in my lab area.

 

Craigslist has been good to me this year!

[82-T/A]

It's too bad they basically trashed much of their stuff. I've never fully understood why, with the entire internet at their fingertips, people don't look up stuff before throwing things into a dumpster...

 

 

I've never given up that much stuff all at once... but I'd say a good 90% of my stuff, I pretty much gave away for free... some of it on here. I got to the point where I was like... I'm over this. I enjoy playing with old stuff, but just don't have the time and space.

 

There were many e-mails where I said on here... whoever e-mails me first gets it. And in some cases, I said... send me a box, I'll fill it...

 

Sometimes I even just paid for shipping because I didn't even want to be bothered with anything.

 

 

When you're at a point in your life that you realize you just don't have time anymore to "play" with some of the stuff you used to... it's not that you lose interest, you just can't justify the time.

 

...and then, when you realize how good it feels to have one less "box" in your garage or closet... you start to get a little crazy and unload everything.

[Keatah]

When you're at a point in your life that you realize you just don't have time anymore to "play" with some of the stuff you used to... it's not that you lose interest, you just can't justify the time.

 

...and then, when you realize how good it feels to have one less "box" in your garage or closet... you start to get a little crazy and unload everything.

 

That's why I'm getting closer and closer to just keeping my core Apple material, the stuff I had as a kid and all through my 20's. Because after that much of it was from ebay and other trades and has much less sentimental value. In some cases, none.

 

Let's all man-up, we're hoarders. We just justify it differently or downplay it. We are non-traditional because we don't hoard papers and wrappers and stuff like that.

 

A number of years ago I unloaded all my AT&T 286 and 386 Xenix machines. 10 bucks a pop, nib, cib. Just wanted them gone. Felt good because I didn't have to "mentally" care for them even though I never opened them up. All that survives of that stint are a couple of brochures, and that's enough to bring back imaginary memories of me doing cool things with them.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Keatah

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Probably its a good idea to document your collection. That should make it easier for your relatives to value the stuff you collected and prevents that collectibles are dumped.

 

IMO, whoever collects rare things is bound to take care for the future of this collection.

I wonder why I got no reply here. Is this an obvious demand? Or is nobody interested into documenting? IMO the latter would mean, that the old systems will more or less die with us. Shouldn't we take care for future generations?

[Keatah]

We should. And there needs to be some sort of guideline. What and how.

[awhite2600]

Probably its a good idea to document your collection. That should make it easier for your relatives to value the stuff you collected and prevents that collectibles are dumped.

 

IMO, whoever collects rare things is bound to take care for the future of this collection.

I have an agreement with my 21 year old son that he will care for my collection when I'm gone. He's been playing 2600 games with me since he was old enough to hold a joystick. My collection isn't worth big bucks. I just don't want to see it go into a dumpster when I die.

[Retro-Z]

I wonder why I got no reply here. Is this an obvious demand? Or is nobody interested into documenting? IMO the latter would mean, that the old systems will more or less die with us. Shouldn't we take care for future generations?

 

Well, I have actually seen a few cases where the deceased relative DID document the price of everything. One guy actually put a tag on everything that had a brief description of the item and how much it was worth.

 

However, after he passed, the family had an incredibly hard time selling anything. The values on the tags were astronomically high, which is to be expected of someone who spent their life hoarding and not selling. I actually suggested that they just remove the tags altogether. I've seen this a few other times, where a family is left with a list of values, and it is very difficult to work with them. Typically, they aren't willing to negotiate prices thinking that everyone is trying to scam them somehow.

 

Still, it's a good idea to keep stuff organized so different systems and accessories can be easily identified. Just imagine, if something happened to us, how would our family members know what went with what? I was at an estate sale recently where I found a bin full of Atari 8-bit floppy disk game boxes. I had to search the whole house before I found one of those plastic disk storage boxes full of the original game disks. The game boxes were in an upstairs bedroom, the disks themselves were in the basement. This was in a house where the only computer stuff was Atari 8-bit. Imagine having to go through the house of someone who collected multiple systems, and had a fairly large collection?

[82-T/A]

A number of years ago I unloaded all my AT&T 286 and 386 Xenix machines. 10 bucks a pop, nib, cib. Just wanted them gone. Felt good because I didn't have to "mentally" care for them even though I never opened them up. All that survives of that stint are a couple of brochures, and that's enough to bring back imaginary memories of me doing cool things with them.

 

That's pretty cool... I bet those 286 and 386s were pretty cool, new in the box. It is always fun opening up something new, that's old.

 

 

 

I wonder why I got no reply here. Is this an obvious demand? Or is nobody interested into documenting? IMO the latter would mean, that the old systems will more or less die with us. Shouldn't we take care for future generations?

 

 

When relatives die that have a ton of stuff... collections, if you will... that stuff is often looked upon as "junk" by the other family members. That guy's computer stuff would be like a closet full of dolls to you. Beyond the price you could get from a possible sale of the stuff... you could really care less what any of it means. You don't care if the Suzie Doll has a special purse that goes with it, and that the purse shouldn't go with the Debbie doll, or whatever. You could really give two craps and just want that stuff gone! haha...

 

Unfortunately, our Atari / computer collection will more than likely be looked upon in the same way.

 

 

I always hesitate to post my views on this because I think my comments here are generally unwanted. Before I go any further, let me phrase this first with a comparison... and I don't want to get too deep... but "Atari" is nothing but a blink of the eye in terms of history. There are a lot of people that have car collections. The cars that are the most valuable, are the ones that the previous generation had during the "hay day." Today... the cars from the 60s and up are the most popular. Some 50s cars are still considered cool... but most people just don't care too much about them beyond their value to a collection. Most 50s cars that are from orphaned makes (companies that no longer exist) are pretty much worthless. You look further back... the Ford Model T. There's hundreds of them because people saved them. You can basically buy a running Ford Model T for like $1,500 bucks all day long. There's no one alive anymore that cares about them, except the errant car collector who likes them because they're weird looking.

 

For Atari, and 80s computers... that's the Generation-X and some of the older Millennials. For the overwhelming vast majority of those of us who are younger, they really don't care.

 

In 20 years from now... you might see a slight resurgence of Atari since the Gen-X-ers will all be retiring and will now have time to goof around with this stuff, but after that... no one will care anymore.

 

 

Obviously, I love Atari, and 80s computers.

 

But I want to make a REAL point here.

 

PLEASE, PLEASE... do not save computer stuff, or hardware, or anything else because you think you're saving it for a future generation. Do it ONLY because you enjoy playing with it. When or if that interest wanes... seriously consider selling your stuff to someone else who has a budding interest, and don't hang on to it. There are so many "closet" hoarders here, it's scary... and I hate to see people get into that.

 

Life is far too short.

[Keatah]

I'm pretty certain any and all my Apple II material will go to the landfill when I'm gone. After several false starts I'm back to the beginning - with no way to ensure it gets properly handled. Not that it matters or anything, just saying.

 

As far as cars go. I am interested in the ones I grew up with, or more importantly present-day models. Those and the ones that speak to me on emotional levels. And I can tell you that I have ZERO interest in ones that are outside of my prime and time. To me they're scrap metal. The best I'll give you is the hope someone else takes an interest.

 

I might look at a '57 Chevy or a Packard or Doosenburg with curiosity because of interest in engineering and fabrication methods of the time. And the fact that these were actual usable cars. Otherwise it's all the same, 4-wheels and a motor.

 

On the other hand, there are always newcomers to the scene. And they will lust after our wares but for different reasons.

[Turbo-Torch]

I wonder why I got no reply here. Is this an obvious demand? Or is nobody interested into documenting? IMO the latter would mean, that the old systems will more or less die with us. Shouldn't we take care for future generations?

 

Internet makes it easy. I have older sisters who are savages when it comes to values on anything that appears valuable.

If they want to see what any console or individual game is worth, it takes seconds to search by ticking the completed "sold" box on eBay.

I inherited hundreds of new vacuum tubes years ago. I have no real use for them; however, they are great for trading for things I do want. I ALWAYS check the sold section of eBay...it's amazing how one my be worth $5 and the one next to it worth $100. Best of all, it's a real world value for that point in time.

 

Another good thing about video games and computers is that there are names and model #s attached to them. Think of how easy that is compared to trying to identify a doll, piece of furniture, sculpture or jewelry?

 

Most humans have some type of collection they enjoy. I have friends and family who collect everything from dolls, to guns, to coins, musical instruments, trains and so on. Most of that stuff could be researched and sorted through in a week or two. They're collectors, not hoarders...big difference that a few around here can't comprehend.

 

[jhd]

Having been involved with two house clean-outs (my Grandfather's and more recently my Parent's), I understand the desire/need to just be rid of the stuff.

 

My Grandfather was something of a hoarder. For example, he had a massive "collection" of vinyl records from obscure religious artists. Many of these had only been played once, and then copied to tape.

 

There is very probably someone, somewhere who would share his passion for this stuff. When we have only a few months to empty the house so that it can be sold; we just needed the stuff gone and taking the time to find a buyer was not an option. We offered it for free to some local charities (religious organizations, thrift shops) all of which more-or-less politely declined the donation; nobody locally wanted this stuff. It ultimately went to landfill. Neither my Parents nor I were interested, and we had no sense of their value -- other than that Grandfather spent much money to acquire it over many years -- and time was of the essence.

 

Some years later, before a cross-country move, I posted an online advertisement offering a large stack of Byte magazine for free. The only person who responded wanted me to deliver it to his apartment. Seriously. Again, sometimes stuff just needs to go quickly.

[Retro-Z]

Well, unfortunately, some stuff sells, and some stuff doesn't.

 

Religious music on records? Even the thrift shops can't generally sell those locally. They just aren't fast movers. Some of it can go for surprisingly large amounts of money (just like with any genre of collectibles), but 99% of it is more or less unwanted, even by serious/passionate collectors.

 

Byte magazines? Only the earliest years have any real value, and even then, only bring a few hundred dollars for nice and complete collections. Definitely not something worth wasting a lot of time on.